MY ALASKA:FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Photos provided by Upsplash

After recently seeing a young Alaskan girl, Lydia Jacoby win the 100m breaststroke gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics I was instantly reminded of the time I spend in Anchorage.  I was stationed at Fort Richardson back in 1984 and how I was surprised to see that the land I had imaged was nowhere near what came to my mind before I’d arrived there. All set to live in an Igloo this was not to be the case at all.  Of course it was very cold and the sky seem to be in a constant state of overcast.  No surprises there being that Alaska is mostly nine months of winter and three months of summer.  One man I meet in Fairbanks said he’d been there most of his adult life and that the climate was something you never get use to.   That appeared to be true for me as well.  I seemed to never know when day began and when nighttime started. All this is relative to this story which will emphasis my first encounters to this land they called The Last Frontier.

First, the  Great Alaskan Iditarod race of dogsledding was won by a women named Libby Riddle back in 1985 and I present to see the staging point in Anchorage. I did not know anything about the event at that  time but that these dogsled teams and there muskers were considered local celebrities.  Trekking from Anchorage all the way to Nome,Alaska to the north it was a grueling race across the frozen tundra that no one expected Libby to win.  But win she did and a star was born.  That land holds a special place for women,Hey? I can’t say my first encounters will ever come close to what these two ladies have accomplished but the thought of Alaska and its people surely seems to bring out the adventure spirit in  most who lived on her soil. My first time witnessing a moose was not so shocking in itself. Though the way these animals appeared to be everywhere you see ;in your backyard, on the highways and byways all through out the day was very shocking.  And it appeared that the people in Alaska found these animals just to be a part of the fabric of daily life in Alaska.  It was as if man and animal lived in harmony and that was all good for everyone of it’s residents.

My first class on journalism was taught at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.  I remember one of the photography assignments was to go and capture the natural surroundings with our camera.  The class professor was a cool Japanese man who seem more like a soldier than myself.  He say things like, If all else fails,read the manual”, or “the only good photographer is the one with the dirty knees!” So as I set out with my Nikon loaded with black and white film to the Cook Inlet I noticed a group of bald eagles nestled in the mud alongside the inlet about a mile or so away. When I tell you these are birds that you don’t or shouldn’t never get too close to heed my advice.  Their presence was menacing and foreboding.  I was snapping pictures as fast as I could so as not to let them notice me off the highway.  It was a foggy day and that may have some how added to the gloomy scene.  Nevertheless the pictures turn out blurring and some were just too dark to process a good enough image for a grade I thought. Maybe operators error?  I later printed a picture in Fujifilm of a downtown scene of cars and street lights at night using an open shutter for about five seconds are so. Presto, this was the picture I turned in and the Professor  could see  how I mastered f-stops on that little Nikon. Mission accomplished.

And. of course no memory of Alaska would be complete without the images of Aurora Borealis, The Northern Lights.  While on bivouac one night the sky lit up with sparkling colors of red,purple,yellow,green, and orange! The patterns of rays of streaming lights seem to ripple across the sky as if a dance was in procession.  It was as if Heaven was putting on a fireworks show for all to see and behold.  Simply a marvel to have witnessed this awesome display of nature and science. Alaska once again shows us how mysterious and compelling life and nature can really be.

Anchorage,Alaska is quite a modern city and yearly receive visitors from all over the globe. Many come for skiing,hiking,and fjord tours of the many Glaciers that are situated around Anchorage. Every year explorers set out to conquer its great mountains and alps. Even a visit to Santa’s House outside of Fairbanks was one trip I could not resist so just say I saw Santa’s House! 

If you are ever feeling a need to be first start in Alaska. You won’t be disappointed. Thanks for allowing me to share the mystery of the Universe with you.

 (This story is based from real life events of it's author, R.Diamond Cole)

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